

The thieves claimed to have stolen a terabyte of data.
#ATC TRANSPORTATION WINDOWS#
Matson: In late 2020, the giant shipping company Matson was attacked by a gang of cybercriminals using the Windows REvil ransomware. There remains some concern that the April MTA attack may have been only exploratory in preparation for an even larger attack that could bring transportation to a virtual standstill in the northeast. The Chinese attackers reportedly exploited a zero-day vulnerability in a remote access product from Pulse Connect Secure to infiltrate the MTA’s network.


The MTA insists that no customer data was stolen and the attackers did not tamper with critical systems, further substantiating the likelihood of espionage as the motive. In what was likely a cyber-espionage campaign, the sophisticated attackers were able to achieve persistence on three of the MTA’s 18 computer systems for several days. The transportation system carries over 11 million passengers each weekday, and over 850,000 vehicles travel each day over the seven toll bridges MTA operates.Ĭybersecurity experts suspect Chinese threat actors are responsible for the attack. The MTA serves 12 counties in downstate New York and two counties in southwestern Connecticut. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA): In June 2021, reports surfaced that North America’s largest transportation network, New York’s MTA, was hit with a cyberattack two months before. It was the first of what has now become many wake-up calls to the vulnerabilities of today’s interconnected IT infrastructure. In what started as a phishing email that delivered malware, the adverse effects of the attack were felt by companies worldwide. The company said that the attack affected all business units at Maersk, including container shipping, port and tugboat operations, oil and gas production, drilling services, and oil tankers. In the end, it infected nearly 50,000 endpoints and thousands of applications and servers across 130 countries - Maersk being hit the hardest. The attack’s target was a business in Ukraine, but the virus quickly spread to networks worldwide. Maersk: In what many still refer to as the mother of all cyberattacks, and the reason that ransomware malware Petya and its variant cousin NotPetya are household names in the cybersecurity world, shipping giant A.P. Because transportation companies have not historically deployed large security teams to protect their digital assets, they are more acutely affected by the global cybersecurity skills gap than other businesses. The number of ransomware attacks is increasing across all sectors, but transportation entities are seemingly bearing the brunt of this trend. Cybersecurity issues in the transportation industryĪccording to, between June of 2020 and June of 2021, the transportation industry witnessed a 186 percent increase in weekly ransomware attacks. Historically more concerned with protecting passengers and cargo from physical threats, the industry now faces an alarming increase in cyber attacks.Įducational institutions and cybersecurity professionals must work together to advance security concepts throughout transportation manufacturing, product distribution, communication and entertainment systems, and the robust vendor ecosystem. As this critical industry becomes more dependent on interconnected digital systems, the risk of cyberattacks rises. This sector includes aviation, automobiles and motor carriers, maritime transportation, and railways. Our nation’s transportation industry quickly, safely, and securely moves people and goods across the country and overseas. Online master’s in information security.Computer science with cybersecurity emphasis.CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+).Certified Information Security Manager (CISM).
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